Recently, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat down for a town hall-style meeting at the Congolese capital of Kinshasa. According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, her stop is part of an 11-day tour through Africa to promote “development and good governance, and to underscore the Obama administration’s commitment” to aiding the African continent. In particular, her visit to the Congo was meant to focus upon women in the country who are raped during genocide wars.Speaking of the Congo, there’s a country that could use short term loans and payday loans with no faxing…

And she’s upset over one question a student asked her

It appears that the reason for this is that there was an erroneous translation made by the translator onstage with Hillary Clinton, who was angry. The translation given of the student’s question involved what “Mr. Clinton” thought about a foreign policy issue. Here was Hillary Clinton and her angry response:

You want me to tell you what my husband thinks? If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion, I am not going to be channeling my husband. My husband is not secretary of state, I am.

Pronoun trouble?

(Photo: mangdiddles.blogspot.com)

Assistant Secretary P.J. Crowley revealed later that it was not the student’s intention to make it sound as though he was asking for Mr. Clinton’s opinion. The fact is that the student was attempting to ask Mrs. Clinton what President Obama’s views were on a deal between China and the Democratic Republic of Congo – NOT Bill Clinton.

But Hillary Clinton was angry

It’s a telling response. Perhaps it’s the limelight Bill Clinton has recently received for his diplomatic mission to North Korea, the mission that freed imprisoned journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee and possibly restarted nuclear talks. Perhaps that has her a bit on edge. However, she has nothing to be jealous about. Bill was working a diplomatic channel that had been established during his own presidency; it was not a slight to Hillary that she wasn’t the one to participate in the meeting with Kim Jong Il. And Hillary has an impressive list of accomplishments in her own right, and she is fully capable to serve as the United States Secretary of State.

Let’s look at the exchange

From the viewpoint of this Examiner piece, “the only thing more offensive to her might have been if the reporter asked her to make some cookies for her husband.” So clearly, there are gender issues here, particularly when it comes to sex roles. Is this something that we’re going to have to cover until the end of time? Men and women have similarities in terms of what they are capable of, but there are also differences. We need to celebrate those differences instead of continuing to use them to separate.

Is Hillary Clinton angry about what Bill was able to accomplish in North Korea? She shouldn’t be. Her State Department did most of the heavy lifting behind the scenes, indicates the Examiner. Bill was simply sent in to close the deal because he’d already established relationships with dignitaries in North Korea. Yes, it is true that Bill Clinton is receiving the credit in the media for having busted open the Ling/Lee situation and being charming old Bill with Kim Jong Il, but Hillary Clinton worked hard to achieve the gains we have made with North Korea.

What’s next?

While it is definitely a low blow, I’m amused by what the Examiner writer suggests could be in the works:

She may truly lose her mind if Monica Lewinsky personally gets Iran to give up on its nuclear program. Judging from her anger in this video I do not think any of us wish to see Secretary Clinton truly lose her temper.

Funny? Maybe. I certainly wasn’t one of those who laughed off Bill Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky back in the day, but I can laugh at this sentiment. After the translation problem was rectified in the Congo, there was no longer an issue. “Hillary Clinton angry!” went the way of “Hulk smash!” It’s a cartoon, not real news about our Secretary of State. What would be news is if short term loans and payday loans with no faxing were instituted in that war-torn country. Apply here if you need that kind of help…

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